Riding with the locals
Trip Start
May 12, 2005
1
17
33
Trip End
Sep 11, 2005
Nong Khiaw,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, June 22, 2005
Meg and An were setting off for Luang Prabang, via Pakbeng, to the southwest. Kat was heading straight back to Luang Prabang on the same route we had taken to get to Luang Nam Tha: she'd loved it there so much that she changed her plans of kayaking to the border into Thailand at Huay Xai.
I arranged to meet Kat back at Sai's guesthouse, but decided first to head for Nong Khiaw, to the southwest of Luang Nam Tha, as I'd heard from several other travellers that it was very beautiful - and there was the possibility of chartering a boat back for a six-hour trip down the Nam Ou river to Luang Prabang, if I could find enough other people to share with me.
Meg, An and I all had to change bus at Oudomxai, where I was told that sometimes there was a sawngthaew (pick-up truck) all the way to Nong Khiaw, but sometimes there wasn't, depending on how many people wanted to go there.
There weren't enough people. But there was a sawngthaew going half-way, to Pak Mong, so I jumped aboard and it soon filled up with locals. On setting off, there were more than 20 people squeezed into the back of the truck sitting on 16 big boxes of batteries, several bags of goldfish, a few sacks of vegetables, a couple of rugs and various other assorted goods back from the market in busy Oudomxai.
Although very crowded (we picked up more people as we went along, plus a motorbike!) the sawngthaew was a very welcome change from the Lao public buses. I was the only non-Lao aboard and although communication was very difficult, I was soon exchanging fruit, smiles and "sabidee"s with everyone.
I've since met travellers who hate the stop-start nature of travelling by sawngthaew, but I love the insight it gives into the daily life of ordinary people. There is no set timetable for a sawngthaew - it just starts when there are enough people to make it reasonably full, then picks up more people as it goes along. Some people wait at bus stops, but others hail them from their houses, or just set off walking along the road until one overtakes them. Each new person has to negociate their fare with the driver and everyone goodnaturedly shuffles themselves and their bags and boxes along to make room for them. No-one seems to mind any delay to the trip: we passed a market and a couple of passengers wanted to stop to buy a couple of items, so they just shouted to the driver to stop and everyone waited for them! I just can't imagine it working at home...
At Pak Mong, I chose to charter my own sawngthaew to Nong Khiaw for $7 (bartered down from $10), rather than waiting an indefinate number of hours to see if anyone else turned up wanting to go there.
We set off and soon picked up the usual random selection of people as we went along, but the only real stop this time was to pull down the plastic side covers to the sawngthaew when it started to rain heavily.
The rain didn't last for long, and when the covers were rolled back up, the sun was streaming down over the mountains and through the rain-drenched trees, with a beautiful rainbow over the mountains in the distance. Quite stunning!
It was starting to get dark when I finally arrived at Nong Khiaw, but there was still enough light for me to appreciate the breathtaking mountain and river scenery. I walked across river, heading for the row of huts on the far bank and took one of the first ones I came to, with its own balcony, overlooking the river.
I sat outside my hut, watching the sun set and the mountain shadows lengthen, then headed back across the bridge towards the main part of the town in search of dinner. Unfortunately the restaurant I chose had run out of Luang Prabang salad - typical!
I asked around, but there didn't seem to be anyone heading back to Luang Prabang by boat next day, as one had just come upstream, arriving that afternoon. I decided to get up early enough to check again in the morning, but catch the 8am bus if there was still no sign of a boat.
I spent the rest of the evening on the terrace of a cafe near my hut, chatting to Elena, an 18-year-old British girl on her gap year, reading my book and swigging a bottle of BeerLao.
As I had half-predicted, there was no sign of anyone taking a boat back to Luang Prabang in the morning, so I opted for the 8am bus, which wound its way alongside the Nam Ou river for the majority of the journey, meaning I didn't miss out on the scenery.
Cathy
